information and ideas with others through oral collaborative conversations on a range of social and academic topics. Teachers can structure collaborative learning practices for small-group discussion about the texts students read across subject areas. These practices help students learn the content, vocabulary, and grammatical structures related to the texts in language-rich, iterative social situations. While this standard can be applied to conversations around academic texts, it can also be applied to any type of conversation (social or academic) or to conversations that arise during collaborative group work (Heller & Greenleaf, 2007; Vaughn et al., 2011).2 Interacting with others in written English in various communicative forms (print, communicative technology, and multimedia). This standard is specific to collaborating through written English (e.g., passing notes, written feedback, collaborative group writing/multimedia projects, collaboration using technology) but also includes word-level processing such as decoding and spelling. It also includes recognizing the organizational features of different academic texts so that students can better comprehend and create their own written texts (Brisk, 2012; Gibbons, 2008; Hammond, 2006).
3 Offering and supporting opinions and negotiating with others in communicative exchanges. Not all students come to school knowing how to engage in collaborative discussions with others. Recent research has shown that ELLs can learn how to do this by being “apprenticed” through scaffolded interactions in classroom discussion settings (Gibbons, 2009; Walqui & van Lier, 2010).
4 Adapting language choices to various contexts (based on task, purpose, audience, and text type). Choosing the right language depends on what is happening (the content), who is communicating and their relationship (e.g., peer to peer, student to adult), how the message is conveyed (e.g., written, spoken), and whether the communication is formal or informal (Schleppegrell, 2012). Student success with adapting language choices grows with student ability to increase vocabulary, recognize and use appropriate register, use more complex sentence and clauses, and use connecting/transitioning words to convey meaning (O’Dowd, 2010; Schleppegrell, 2004).
In The California ELD Companion, the What the Student Does section provides specific descriptions of competence with each of the Collaborative standards at the appropriate grade range and proficiency level. Similarly, the What the Teacher Does section provides specific strategies for developing competence with each of the Collaborative standards at the appropriate grade range. And the last section, Snapshots, offers classroom level descriptions of what each standard looks like in practice.
Source: California English Language Development Standards, K–12 (2012). Chapter 4, “Theoretical Foundations and the Research Bases of the CA ELD Standards,” provides an excellent summary of the research used in developing the four Collaborative standards in Part I, A.
Standard 1: Exchanging information and ideas
ELD Standard 1 Organized by Grade Level and Proficiency Level
Emerging
6 Engage in conversational exchanges and express ideas on familiar topics by asking and answering yes-no and wh- questions and responding using simple phrases.
7 Engage in conversational exchanges and express ideas on familiar topics by asking and answering yes-no and wh- questions and responding using simple phrases.
8 Engage in conversational exchanges and express ideas on familiar topics by asking and answering yes-no and wh- questions and responding using simple phrases.
Expanding
6 Contribute to class, group, and partner discussions by following turn-taking rules, asking relevant questions, affirming others, adding relevant information, and paraphrasing key ideas.
7 Contribute to class, group, and partner discussions by following turn-taking rules, asking relevant questions, affirming others, adding relevant information, and paraphrasing key ideas.
8 Contribute to class, group, and partner discussions by following turn-taking rules, asking relevant questions, affirming others, adding relevant information, and paraphrasing key ideas.
Bridging
6 Contribute to class, group, and partner discussions by following turn-taking rules, asking relevant questions, affirming others, adding relevant information and evidence, paraphrasing key ideas, building on responses, and providing useful feedback.
7 Contribute to class, group, and partner discussions by following turn-taking rules, asking relevant questions, affirming others, adding relevant information and evidence, paraphrasing key ideas, building on responses, and providing useful feedback.
8 Contribute to class, group, and partner discussions by following turn-taking rules, asking relevant questions, affirming others, adding relevant information and evidence, paraphrasing key ideas, building on responses, and providing useful feedback.
Script in bold italics indicates content not found in earlier proficiency levels of the same ELD Standard.
Source: California English Language Development Standards for Grades K–12, California Department of Education, 2012.
Notes
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Grades 6–8 Interacting in Meaningful Ways Collaborative Standard 1
What the Student Does
Emerging
Gist: Students contribute to class, group, and partner discussions by following norms for discussion and by asking and answering relevant questions.
6 They consider:Do I contribute to the conversations and express my own ideas?Do I ask and answer yes/no questions? Who, what, when, where, why questions?Do I respond with simple phrases?
7 They consider:Do I contribute to the conversations and express my own ideas?Do I ask and answer yes/no questions? Who, what, when, where, why questions?Do I respond with simple phrases?
8 They consider:Do I contribute to the conversations and express my own ideas?Do I ask and answer yes/no questions? Who, what, when, where, why questions?Do I respond with simple phrases?
Expanding
Gist: Students have extended conversations with classmates and adults, follow norms for discussion, build on one another’s ideas, and ask and answer relevant questions.
6 They also consider:Do I take Part In class, group, and partner discussions?Do I listen and add useful information to the discussion?Do I follow turn-taking rules?Do I affirm others in their contributions?Do I ask and answer relevant questions?Do I know how to put key ideas into my own words?
7
